WO2008060116A1

WO2008060116A1 - Flood control system

Info

Publication number: WO2008060116A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/005769
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kuk Rae Cho
Original assignee: Kuk Rae Cho
Priority date: 2006-11-17
Filing date: 2007-11-16
Publication date: 2008-05-22
Also published as: CN101535629B; CN101535629A; KR100785175B1

Abstract

Provided is a flood control system including a plurality of power generation facilities and a plurality of cavitation prevention hole, which are connected to an inverted siphon waterway, a separate artificial construction, so as to manage river flow from a starting point of the river to an end point before entering the sea. The power generation facility includes a first cavitation prevention hole formed in an upper air layer of an intake water intake reservoir; a hydraulic turbine installed at a downstream of a hydraulic pressure pipe being connected to the cavitation prevention hole to generate electric power; and a second cavitation prevention hole formed in a discharge water reservoir located in the vicinity of the hydraulic turbine.

Description

Description FLOOD CONTROL SYSTEM

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a flood control system which carries river flow, which has been markedly increased by heavy rainfall, down faster than the normal flow speed, and a hydraulic turbine type electric power generation facility incorporated into the flood control system to generate electric power. Background Art

[2] Flood control constructions having been built nationwide are designed based on information on precipitation of 50-100 hundred years ago, so they are sometimes incapable of handling natural disaster such as sudden heavy rains. Rather, they are mostly exposed to flood impacts, having gradually become defenseless and weakened in flood control functions. Needless to say, streams or rivers, the natural control means, are directly exposed to flood inundation.

[3] In recent years, an increase in carbon dioxide resulted from the use of fossil fuel has brought global warming and further abnormal climate. This triggered regional heavy rain or long-term drought all over the world, or caused hurricanes to increase exponentially compared to the past. Even worse, these natural disasters are expected to happen even more often in the future. To take measures to adapt to such an abnormal climate change, domestic flood control systems should have been changed long ago, but they still have old, traditional structures because it takes high cost and much time to change those structures. Inevitably, reservoir or bank collapses, or flood and overflow occur repeatedly in the downstream.

[4] Since there are few constructions equipped with improved discharge capacities during flood and heavy rains, it is absolutely necessary to reinforce all flood control constructions.

[5] Meanwhile, as well known, the world is now facing the ever increasing gas prices as the Earth's oil deposits had begun to decline sharply. A number of alternative energies have recently been introduced and many nations around the world are actively involved in development of techniques to increase the efficiency of such energies. Unfortunately however, considering domestic condition in the country with regard to usefulness and universality of several alternative energies, they can only be actuated under limited conditions. That is, the possibility of converting practically those alternative energies into hydroelectric and thermal power generation is pretty low. In addition, another problem of existing hydroelectric power plants is that they carry out an effective waterfall from an intake dam only once for power generation, so their water usage rates are very low.

[6] Therefore, there is a need to develop new equipment, capable of not only increasing the water usage rate, but also utilizing water resources in dead storage. Disclosure of Invention

Technical Problem

[7] In view of foregoing problems, it is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a novel flood control system, capable of reducing overall restoration costs of dealing with flood damages that can be spent each year and generating astronomical profits from an amount of electricity generated by recycling water resources even after investment costs are subtracted therefrom.

[8] Another object of the present invention is to provide a flood control system having a cavitation prevention hole to prevent the onset of a cavitation phenomenon by converging waterfall formed over a long distance and removing air in water, so that water flow rate may be increased to enhance water usage rate, leading to a higher amount of electricity generated thereby.

[9] The other objectives and advantages of the invention will be understood by the following description and will also be appreciated by the embodiments of the invention more clearly. Further, the objectives and advantages of the invention will readily be seen that they can be realized by the means and its combination specified in the claims.

Advantageous Effects

[10] In accordance with the present invention, the intaken water is made in vacuum state and sent to separate pathways to be used for a number of power generation facilities. As high flow rate water is supplied several times, a greater amount of electricity can be generated. Meanwhile, during heavy rains, water is discharged more quickly to prevent flood inundation and, further, to make economic gains. Brief Description of the Drawings

[11] Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a power generation facility according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

[12] Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a flood control system configured by incorporating a power generation facility according to the present invention. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[13] To achieve the above objects, there is provided a power generation facility, which includes: a first cavitation prevention hole formed in an upper air layer of an intake water intake reservoir; a hydraulic turbine installed at a downstream of a hydraulic pressure pipe being connected to the cavitation prevention hole to generate electric power; and a second cavitation prevention hole formed in a discharge water reservoir located in the vicinity of the hydraulic turbine. [14] Another aspect of the present invention provides a flood control system including a plurality of power generation facilities and a plurality of cavitation prevention hole, which are connected to an inverted siphon waterway (this is a separate artificial construction), so as to manage river flow from a starting point of the river to an end point before entering the sea. Mode for the Invention

[15] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be set forth in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the invention.

[16] Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a power generation facility according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in which the power generation facility has a main body 1 made out of a material including, but not being limited thereto, iron or plastics, each added with concrete if necessary.

[17] As shown in Fig. 1, the power generation facility 1 includes an intake water inlet 11 disposed higher than a cleaning inlet 13 that opens and closes by a valve 14 below. In this manner, heavy impurities in intake water are settled and accumulated in front of the cleaning inlet 13 to be able to clean the cleaning inlet 13 later on the regular basis. Sometimes, this cleaning inlet 13 is used as a water discharge outlet. The discharged water may be sent to a farm canal to be recycled as irrigation water. A valve 12 may be installed at the entrance of the intake water inlet 11 to open and close the same.

[18] An intake water reservoir 10 is connected to a rear end of the intake water inlet 11, and a water sill 15 is provided at the top of the intake water reservoir 10 to send water to a reservoir 20 when water is filled to a predetermined height. Further, a first cavitation prevention hole 31 is formed at an upper portion of the water sill 15 in a manner to communicate with a vacuum pump 30 such as Roots Blower through a connecting pipe 32. In this specification, the "cavitation prevention hole" is defined as an entrance area of the connecting pipe 32 connected to the vaccum pump 30. Therefore, the intake water inlet 11 is preferably built upstream of a branch or in an area easily inundated by flood in such a structure that it may intake precipitation of a branch through a waterway, i.e., an inverted siphon waterway, installed at a nearest branch.

[19] A vacuum pump 30 is provided to vacuumize and get rid of the onset of cavitation in an air layer on an upper layer portion of the surface where cavitation is expected to occur. The vacuum pump 30 is preferably built in a way to be controlled automatically by the degree of vacuum.

[20] A discharge water reservoir 50 is connected to a downstream of the reservoir by the medium of a waterway 40 for power generation. A hydraulic turbine 41 is provided to the waterway 40 for power generation, and a second cavitation prevention hole 33 is formed at an upper portion of the discharge water reservoir 50 to communicate with a connecting pipe 34 connected to the other side of the vacuum pump 40. A discharge outlet 51 is located at a lower end of the discharge water reservoir 50, and a valve 52 is installed at the discharge outlet 51, being used to open and close the discharge outlet 51. One side of the discharge outlet 51 may be designed to communicate with the vacuum pump 30. The downstream of the hydraulic turbine 41 for power generation is also vacuumized because although the hydraulic turbine 41 for power generation installed at a waterway is in state to make use of the water flow rate as it is, it may intercept the water flow rate by rotating itself and, at the same time, cause a cavitation phenomenon. As a result, the water having passed through the hydraulic turbine 41 flows markedly slower, compared to the time it being intaken. Also, an increase in water pressure inside the waterway 40 for power generation makes the water flow becomes almost sluggish, thereby making it impossible to obtain a desired energy. This explains why the downstream of the hydraulic turbine 41 is kept in vacuum state.

[21] The hydraulic turbine 41 for power generation is connected to a power generator 42 and to a transformer 43. A space surrounding the electric generator 42 and the transformer 43 includes a controller 44, a dehumidifier 45, and an entrance 46 for an operator to get in/out.

[22] The following will now explain an operating method of the power generation facility according to the present invention.

[23] First, the valve 12 of the intake water inlet 11 is opened to let water flow to the reservoir 20 via the intake water reservoir 10. If the first cavitation prevention hole 31, which communicates with the connecting pipe 32 being connected to one side of the vacuum pump 30, is vacuumized, water is sucked at a high speed and sent to the reservoir 20 continuously.

[24] Further, if the second cavitation prevention hole 33, which communicates with the connecting pipe 34 connected to the other side of the vacuum pump 30, is vacuumized, the water having been fed into the reservoir 20 is sucked again at a high speed into the discharge water reservoir 50 via the waterway 40 for power generation. In the meantime, the hydraulic turbine 41 for power generation is rotated at a high speed and an electric power is obtained from the electric generator 42.

[25] Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a flood control system configured by incorporating the inventive power generation facility shown in Fig. 1. As shown in this drawing, the flood control system forms an inverted siphon waterway T, which is a separate artificial construction, to manage river flow R from an upper stream of the river to an end point before entering the sea S, and connected to the inverted siphon waterway T are at least one power generation facility 1 and cavitation prevention holes connected respectively to vacuum pumps that are installed at an upper steam and a downstream of the power generation facility 1. In particular, a water intake inlet 3 may be installed additionally at an area where branches of the river R are gathered together or an area where an amount of precipitation is increased, and be connected to a nearest cavitation prevention hole by the medium of a waterway and, eventually, to the inverted siphon waterway of a main stream. Optionally, the inverted siphon waterway T may be formed under the riverbed, taking geographical and surrounding conditions into consideration.

[26] Here, the power generation facilities 1 should be installed such that the water level of the discharge water reservoir 50 of a power generation facility 1 at an upper stream region differs from the water level of the intake water reservoir 10 of a power generation facility 1 at a downstream region by about 10.13m or more (this creates a pressure difference above atmospheric pressure). However, a power generation facility 1, which is to be installed in the vicinity of a final water discharge outlet located at the most downstream of the inverted siphon waterway T near the sea, has to be installed somewhere at an upper stream region where the water level of the discharge water reservoir 50 in the power generation facility 1 is different from that of the final water discharge outlet by 10.13m or more. Also, even though a final water discharge outlet of the inverted siphon waterway T is provided to the middle of the river R or its branch, a power generation facility 1, which is to be installed in the vicinity of the final water discharge outlet, should be installed somewhere at an upper stream region where the water level difference between the discharge water reservoir 50 and the final water discharge outlet is 10.13m or more.

[27] As has been explained so far, by installing power generation facilities at an area with the water level difference of 10.13m or more, waterfall can be converged at one site to thus improve the electricity generation efficiency, and water can be discharge into the sea S more rapidly.

[28] Ultimately, a plurality of cavitation holes 2 and a plurality of power generation facilities 1 installed along the inverted siphon waterway T serve to increase water flow rate. In result, water can be used several times repeatedly to generate a higher amount of electricity, and water discharge capability during heavy rains is enhanced.

[29] While the present invention has been described with respect to the specific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

Claims

[1] A flood control system, comprising: an inverted siphon waterway formed along river, wherein the inverted siphon waterway includes a vacuum pump to which at least one cavitation prevention hole connected.

[2] The flood control system according to claim 1, wherein the inverted siphon waterway further includes a power generation facility.

[3] The flood control system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the inverted siphon waterway further includes a water intake inlet, which communicates with the inverted siphon water way and which is installed at a branch of the river.

[4] The flood control system according to claim 2, wherein the power generation facility comprises: an intake water reservoir having a water intake inlet; a reservoir connected to the intake water reservoir; a discharge water reservoir having a water discharge outlet and being connected to a downstream of the reservoir by the medium of a waterway for power generation; a hydraulic turbine installed in the middle of the waterway for power generation; and a first cavitation hole and a second cavitation hole, which are formed at an upper portion of the intake water reservoir and the discharge water reservoir, respectively, to communicate with the vacuum pump.

[5] The flood control system according to claim 4, further comprising: a cleaning inlet disposed at a lower position than the water intake inlet.

[6] The flood control system according to claim 2 or claim 4, wherein the power generation facility is installed in a manner that a difference in water level between the discharge water reservoir of a power generation facility at an upper stream region and the intake water reservoir of a power generation facility at a downstream region, or a difference in water level between a final water discharge outlet of the inverted siphon waterway and a discharge water reservoir of a power generation facility at an upper stream region with respect to the final water discharge outlet is 10.13m or more.